Welcome to our conversation series where we speak with different individuals involved in the Pennsylvania craft beer industry. For suggestions on who should be featured, email us at [email protected].
Lew Bryson knows what to drink. He has been writing about libations since 1994 when he started in the beer industry and started with whiskey in 1997. His writing has appeared in publications such as The Daily Beast, All About Beer Magazine, Whiskey Wash, Craft Spirits Magazine, and The Full Pint, just to name a few! We spoke with Lew to learn more about how he got into beer and whiskey, and where he sees the industry heading, what he is drinking a lot of now, and more!
Describe your role in the PA craft beer industry.
I’m not sure how to address that! My role used to be larger, I guess. I spread the word about new breweries, new beers, new taprooms in a variety of outlets: newspapers, magazines, blogs, newsletters, and trade journals. I also tried to write about problems I saw in the industry, although those usually wound up on my blog. I’ve tried to be an independent voice as much as possible.
How did you get involved in beer and writing?
I started way back, in the 80s, when I was living in California, and went to my first brewpub. I had a notebook with me and started writing down what I was thinking about the beer and the experience. Still have it, along with about 60 more that I’ve filled. Then in 1994, after I had moved back to Pennsylvania, I offered to write a newsletter for a beer distributor in Montgomery county, and a copy got to John Hansell, who was starting Malt Advocate, which was originally a beer magazine. He hired me to do a piece, which got seen by other beer mags, and I was on my way. I started writing about whiskey in 1997 when the microbreweries hit a rough patch, and I’ve been writing about both ever since.
How did your passion for craft beer come about?
It was a passion for beer, first. April 16, 1981, a professor took me and a friend out for beers. We went to an old German beer bar in Lancaster, the Lauzus Hotel (now the Rieker Bottle Works). The prof laughed when I reached for a Stroh’s and put a flip-top bottle of Altenmünster pilsner in my hand. It literally changed my life.
How do you think PA is a unique craft beer state versus other states?
I know it’s not a popular view, but I believe a lot of what made us different is the presence of Yuengling, The Lion, and Straub, as well as the lingering presence of Ortlieb’s, Schaefer (and certainly their Vogelsville brewery, which brought home a ton of GABF medals over the years), Iron City, and Rolling Rock. There was a reason that Pennsylvania had more legacy breweries than any other state in the 1990s. We loved our local beer! It also meant that we were more in tune with the idea of not automatically reaching for a national brand, which eventually had a huge effect on craft beer sales, as did that love for lager. That came from the state’s ethnic heritage, and a large number of German/Ukrainian/Hungarian and other types of clubs and associations, most of which had a club license and taps of imported beers from the home countries; many of which now have taps of local craft beers. We were also early adapters on Belgian and British imports, which led to the popularity of those styles among our craft brewers, as well as a general willingness to innovate with yeast, bacteria, and spices.
When is the last time you went to a brewery outside of PA? What stood out to you about that experience?
Wow. Almost a year ago. I was in Massachusetts on a book-signing trip in late February, and stopped at two breweries: Jack’s Abby in Framingham, which was large and fantastic and making Pennsylvania-grade lagers; and Cold Harbor Brewing, a little taproom in Westborough that reminded me a bit of Hidden River, only more NEIPA-focused. I’ve only been to a few PA breweries since then, except for take-out: Yards, Human Robot, the new Iron Hill in Newtown, and lots of outdoor tent drinking at Elk Creek in Millheim. As soon as the pandemic lifts, I’m going to be visiting a lot of the new breweries; already planning the trips.
Do you have a favorite beer or beers to drink right now?
We’re finishing up the last of the Sierra Nevada Celebration, and I’ve been getting two growlers at a time of Elk Creek’s new Mills Pils, which is outstanding. I did really like the Sly Fox Silver Fox Anniversary a LOT.
Where do you see the beer industry heading with content/social media and events?
The next three months are going to rough as hell. The weather sucks, people don’t spend or drink as much, and the Pandemic is not going away, it’s going to get worse. I’m dedicated to getting take out from my locals as much as possible and tipping at least 25%. Events take imagination in cold weather and some luck in coordinating. As for content/social media, I’d tell craft brewing the same things I just told craft distilling in my column in the Craft Spirits magazine. Stop lying: comb through your marketing and your backstory to make sure there’s no bullshit in it. Engage the community: do more than just donate to a food drive, get out there and work on things that don’t just directly create business. And get consumers on your side for lobbying! So important. I’m really interested in the consumer side of social media: Facebook groups, Untappd. It’s crazy, it’s unpredictable, it’s fun to watch.
Tell us why you do what you do? What inspires you to keep going? Will you get back into beer writing, or solely focus on whiskey for the future?
Not really good at anything else, and I’d kill someone if I had to go back to the 9-5. That’s a good incentive to keep going. I also feel some responsibility to the industry to use my perspective, to tell the truth, to continue to influence the industry as I did with the session beer idea, to make things better. There’s a certain amount of pride in it, too. I don’t want to fade away just yet! I’d really like to do more beer writing, but honestly, it’s almost got to be a hobby at this point. Local beer writing has almost died with the changes in the news business and the Internet making everything free. What’s the point in writing a solid piece when you’re going to get $25 for it? Writing pays less and less, so you get what you pay for as a reader; if all you want is free shit, that’s exactly what you’ll get. I write more about whiskey because it pays. I’d say it pays better, but beer writing hardly pays at all these days.
Who are your biggest influences that keep you going?
Evan Rail, who writes about Czech beer from Prague; I write about beer because I want to write as well as he does. There’s a guy I won’t name who inspires me to write about beer because he wants me to stop, and fuck that guy. Danny Becker of The Full Pint.com, because the magnificent SOB pays me to write about beer, anything I want to about beer. But mostly? The readers, and that’s no horseshit. I came up in beer when you shared information any way you could: early Internet bulletin boards, the CompuServe beer page (where I met Garrett Oliver), the Prodigy Beer Board (which I ran for a few years), photocopied fanzines. It’s what you did. I’m still doing that.
Give us your top 3 social media pages that you turn to regularly for inspiration.
This Week In Rauchbier, on Facebook. Started as a joke, but it’s becoming much more than that, almost against our will. Jeff Alworth’s Beervana blog. I hope I don’t have to say why. And just the loosely knit group of Philly area beer people on Facebook and Twitter. We drink beer and we know things.
Thanks to Lew Bryson for talking with us! You can find him writing for The Daily Beast, and (outside of COVID) you can find him having fun at both whiskey and beer events!
